EXCLUSIVE: Here is a fun Marvel scoop. I’m hearing that Robert Redford is in discussions to join the cast of Marvel’s Captain America: The First Avenger, the sequel that brings Chris Evans back as the shield-carrying superhero. Redford is in talks to play a senior leadership role in S.H.I.E.L.D., the superhero collective run by Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury character. Joe and Anthony Russo are directing the film from a script by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, whose Marvel script credits include Captain America: The First Avenger and the upcoming Thor: The Dark World. The sequel will be released by Disney April 4, 2014.

In between running his Sundance empire, Redford most recently starred in All Is Lost, the J.C. Chandor-scripted and directed survival tale. While Marvel was predictably mum as Kevin Feige’s unit always is on casting matters, Marvel characters have a tendency to show up in other superhero movies, and I believe that is likely to be on the menu for Redford. It will be somewhat ironic for the patriarch of independent cinema to become a regular in some of Hollywood’s biggest studio blockbusters. Redford’s repped by WME

I just saw it in 2d myself, and wow. That was incredible. I went in thinking it would be good and it was even better than I expected. The reviews are right on: it's more of a political thriller than a comic book movie, and the action sequences are some of the best I've ever seen put on film. It's amazing how they made something so completely unrealistic (referring to the combat) seem so visceral. It's even better than the stuff in Avengers (and much more 'reality'-based). And everybody was good, performance wise.

I'm actually really looking forward to Agents of SHIELD on Tuesday now. Or agents of whatever the hell they are now.

This shit pisses me off. Comic book movies encompass everything just like the comics themselves..

The Marvel and Disney tentpole is on course to score the top April opening of all time in North America; "Noah" and "Divergent" lead holdovers.

Fueled by a health dose of younger moviegoers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier should cross a rousing $93 million in its North American launch, marking another victory for Marvel Studios and parent company Disney, according to early returns. Some even wonder whether it could approach $100 million.

The $170 million tentpole -- which is kicking off the summer box office a month early -- is expected to score the top April opening of all time domestically, eclipsing the $86.2 million earned by Universal's Fast Five in late April 2011.

'Captain America: The Winter Soldier': What the Critics Are Saying
'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' Screening: Chris Evans, Cobie Smulders Take New York (Photos)

The $170 million tentpole -- which is kicking off the summer box office a month early -- is expected to score the top April opening of all time domestically, eclipsing the $86.2 million earned by Universal's Fast Five in late April 2011.

Captain America 2 is projected to gross $37 or more on Friday, including $10.2 million earned Thursday night.

Thursday night's gross was ahead of the $7.1 million in Thursday night grosses for last November's Thor: The Dark World, which went on to gross $85.7 million for the weekend, as well as summer 2013 tentpole Man of Steel, which took in $9 million Thursday night for a $116.6 million weekend. It also came in ahead of December 2013 offering The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug ($8.8 million).

Overseas, the superhero sequel is already a hit, racing past the $100 million mark on Wednesday after scoring $75.2 million last weekend from 32 markets. Captain America 2 opened in Russia and Australia on Thursday, and in China on Friday.

The follow-up is certainly benefiting from the post-Avengers glow. Like the first Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger launched to roughly $65 million domestically in July 2011. But the wild success of 2012's The Avengers has seen fortunes rise for the Iron Man and Thor franchises. The same is expected for The Winter Soldier, particularly since it is receiving stellar reviews.

Returning Chris Evans in the title role, as well as Avengers stars Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson, Winter Soldier picks up two years after Avengers left off. Captain America and Black Widow (Johansson) discover there is a secret conspiracy within S.H.I.E.L.D. and fight to stop it, along with The Falcon, played by Anthony Mackie. (Some critics have described the film as an intriguing espionage tale, versus never-ending action.) The villainous Winter Soldier is played by Sebastian Stan.

Elsewhere, Darren Aronofsky's biblical epic Noah is now projected to gross $21 million-plus in its second weekend, putting its domestic total at $76-million plus through Sunday. It should come in No. 2, unless it is overtaken the Divergent, which jumped the $100 mark in North America on Thursday.

I get what you mean, and I have noticed that that's becoming a trend. Until recently, superhero movies were mostly just superhero movies, but now studios are starting to cross them over with other genres. First, I suppose, was Hancock, which had aspects of everything from a crime story to a redemption drama to an alien invasion movie. Within the past year, though, they've also been blended with a psychological thriller (Chronicle), a mob story (The Wolverine), a political thriller (Winter Soldier), and even a Godzilla-style monster movie (Pacific Rim).

We've had superhero romantic comedies and superhero spoofs years ago, but they weren't very good and aren't very remembered. I wonder what they'll cross over with next.

I get what you mean, and I have noticed that that's becoming a trend. Until recently, superhero movies were mostly just superhero movies, but now studios are starting to cross them over with other genres. First, I suppose, was Hancock, which had aspects of everything from a crime story to a redemption drama to an alien invasion movie. Within the past year, though, they've also been blended with a psychological thriller (Chronicle), a mob story (The Wolverine), a political thriller (Winter Soldier), and even a Godzilla-style monster movie (Pacific Rim).

We've had superhero romantic comedies and superhero spoofs years ago, but they weren't very good and aren't very remembered. I wonder what they'll cross over with next.

I think this one was pretty exceptional in that, aside from the Nolan movies and what they tried to do with MoS (which I liked, I own the blu-ray) which were I think exceptions themselves, this one seemed to me more about the plot and characters than about the 'splosions. The action, as much as their was, seemed secondary to the things going on, or even propelled the plot. That's a pretty special thing in an action movie these days. That was actually one of my complaints about Pacific Rim, that there was too much emphasis on "ooh cool, big things beating on each other" and it just wasn't enough to make up for bad writing and, in a few instances, bad acting. I'm hoping the new Godzilla delivers what I was hoping Pacific Rim would be. But a lot of these movies as the (movie) genre has developed have been about being cool. "oh shit" moments sometimes at the expense of substance. And while Winter Soldier is still as cool as anything, I think it has an amazing amount of depth and substance. (The Wolverine may be like this too, I haven't seen it yet, but the main point is that I think The Winter Soldier has risen the bar).

Anyway, comic books, IMO, have always fallen squarely in the SF/F genre, so it's no surprise to me that the movies cover a lot of areas just like the comics themselves did. SF/F has also been that way, can, literally, be anything. I have genre novels on my shelf that range from thick political and social commentaries to something inspired by hollywood westerns (seriously, Red Country by Joe Abercrombie, it's a fantasy western) to romances to military science fiction to space opera (which can have random elements from all over the place) to mysteries to thrillers.

It's while I love genre writing so much. And I've always considered comic books part of the genre.